Life with my sister

I am thinking about this theme for our gala in February. As you may know, I love anything that has to do with snow and this event falls right into our coldest season. This is the main focus of my job. It a huge dinner with entertainment along with a live and silent auction. The goal of this gala is to raise $100,000 for our school’s annual fund. I am so glad God gave me this work to do. It makes my heart so happy and it is my warm cup of tea. I present this plan to my Advancement Team next week. They know nothing of these plans as of yet. I went over some of my thoughts with my friend and our Communications Director today at lunch. Her eyes lit up as she listened to the details and it made me feel like I was going in the right direction. I am so glad I have her to bounce creative ideas off of before I go public with things. I am thinking of having a winter wonderland, alpine theme, snowy mountain type atmosphere. Large glittery snowflakes hanging from the ceiling, winters tablescapes (

just finished The Christmas Basket by Debbie McComber. Yes, reading a book based at Christmas time was a little odd, but it got me in the Christmas spirit. I can't wait!! I'm going to buy a new Nativity Scene this year. Mine is about 6 years old and one of the wisemen has been beheaded, one has had his gift taken from him, permanently, and the sheep has seen better days. I think it is time to replace it!I'm already excited about the Christmas crafts fairs, decorating the house, and listening to Christmas carols. 3 more moths!!! I'm so excited!!! Julie

My vacation is over!! We hit "real life" pretty hard Monday morning. We had a good day at school and then we headed out to Walmart.I go there every Monday for our weekly shopping trip. I have tried shopping 2 weeks at a time but I found that planning 20 meals at a time ( we usually eat out on Friday night) is all I can do or want to do. We were all on our best behavior and the shopping trip was quick and painless ( if only they were all that way). I called Stephen right as we were leaving to ask him about the shells (bullets for those that don't have hunting in their home) he wanted me to pick up. Laughing, he said "The staff wants to know if you are bringing the kids to Kingdom Kids." I looked at my watch and it was 3:30, (Kingdom Kids is a program we have for K-6 kids at the church. The church bus picks them up at school and brings them to church and it gets over at 5:00)I told him we would be there as quick as we could-so we drove quickly the 30 something mil

Update on my earlier post: I made the decision to delete the post about the walk in the park. I know how widespread this blog network is and I would hate to step on anyone's toes or cause anymore heartache for those poor people involved in this moral dilema. My Mama gave me some good advice today - "We can't dictate the morals of other people." She is so very right. Rand and I are are so glad this is not our drama anymore. Like I tell my friends and co-workers, "Save yo drama fo yo Mama!" Rand and I head out for East Texas this Thursday to love on my Mawmaw & UD and my Mama. We are celebrating birthdays this weekend. I am making my Mama one of my Signature A Cakes (This is what I am going to call my cakes for now until I come up with something more clever). I will share pics next week when we return! Abby

Thanks for the wonderful Birthday wishes! I had a fabulous birthday. My birthday is a major holiday to me and those closest to me know they have to recognize it as such. I think my Mama & Daddy raised us to think it was the most special day of the year so I am 29 and still think it is just as special as I did growing up. It is fun times for sure! Rand is always so sweet on my birthday. He was not raised in the same “birthday bubble” as me and has had to make himself more birthday minded in the past five years in order to keep the peace on the 13th of September. God love that man! He literally woke up yesterday singing Happy Birthday, took me to lunch, gave me a new camera, cooked me dinner, did the dishes, and got me the cutest/funniest card! I was born right around 9:00 at night and so last night he screamed, “Happy Birthday” when the clock rolled around to that hour. That’s my Rand! I got lots of good loot from my family & closest friends and love everything I received. Gift

Happy Birthday to my sister tomorrow! 29 years ago I went to my 3rd grade class and waited rather impatiently for my Dad to call and tell me that I had a sister. My classroom was next door to the office, and every time I heard the phone ring, I got so excited! But it was never Dad. A friend of our family picked me up from school and took me to her house to stay until Mom had the baby. We ate supper and still no phone call from Dad, I took a bath and got ready for bed and still no phone call from Dad. Finally, after hearing on the news that there was a killer on the loose in town, and being terribly frightened that out of all the houses in Ft Smith, he would somehow pick out the one I was in and I would never see my baby sister, my Dad called. I had a baby sister named Abby Jo. I was so excited! I would love to say that I was always excited to have a sister named Abby Jo, but there were quite a few years that neither of us were excited to be related. We fought and fought, but we loved a

Fall has arrived and I love it! I bought 2 cute swing type tops at Old Navy last month for fall and I can finally wear one today. There is something about a changing season that gives one an extra burst of energy & joy! I get all these daily newsletters in my inbox and some I dismiss and some I actually read. This article is one that I read this morning and it made me really examine myself. I thought I would share it with you. We could all use a little lip therapy. A month from today I will be in Mexico on the beach with my Rand. I am counting down the days until we get on that jet plane! I am past due for a much needed vacation and am looking forward to the "dirt". "Dirt" you ask? Well, Jules is at the beach right now. Lucky dog. Yet, Anna is having some difficulty with the beach. Upon arrival she let them all know that she was, "not getting on that dirt!" and as of yesterday she was still refusing to step foot on that "dirt". She is referr

In Sunday School Sunday the teacher asks this question. Am I more afraid of what God thinks about what I'm doing or what other people think? And I started thinking about it. Who do I fear-not a fright fear but a reverence, awe fear? Do I so fear people and what the will think and say that I am more concerned about what car I drive than spending time with God in prayer and in His word (that’s what should drive me)? Am I more concerned about what people think about how I raise my children, what clothes they wear and what activities they are involved in than I am about what God thinks about raising the children that He gave me? We have made tough decisions this summer and hopefully they were God honoring ones. We chose once again to not play baseball on Sundays and we have chosen to homeschool the kids. These decisions have been met with talk, criticism, praise and some disapproving glances. And let me admit to you I have faltered, because what people think is important to me, but tod

Update: I got 3 big ole shots in my hip yesterday and the doctor put me back on my daily meds. A little sad but looking forward to it making my head stop hurting. Pray I can come off my meds sometime soon. I truly hate taking them, yet I truly despise the headaches. I still have a headache today but it is not as intense. Ready for the meds to start working again. I was doing somersaults last week because I was migraine med free for two weeks with no headache. The celebration has come to a stop. Thursday afternoon I got the headache of all headaches. I had a visit from Ralph and Earl several times and slept most of my Labor Day weekend, hoping to ward it away. No such luck. I am getting a shot from the headache doctor this afternoon to hopefully knock it out and knock me out for the rest of the day. Please pray I don’t have to go back on my daily meds and this is just a rare occurrence from a little caffeine intake last week. Many of you know what a thorn in my side this onset of migra